Worst sounding album in your collection

[Smokey]

Worst soundng not in term of music, but rather how it sound and was recorded.

I would have to say worst sounding album in my collection (although like the album) is Big Generator by Yes. First I had it on LP and it sounded so brittle, cold and metalic. And sound was lacking warmth and dynamics.

Couple of years later I bought the CD version, and sound quality was the same if not worst. I don't know if record engineer wanted the album to sound like that or not, but my audio system did not like it.

[Swish]

Raw Power, bar none. Still love it, but the sound is atrocious.

[ForeverAutumn]

Blue Rodeo, Five Days in July. It makes me grit my teeth everytime I try to listen. It's a shame too, because it's quite a good album musically.

[Hyfi]

Triumph - Stages

Like FA said, great music, horrid recording.

[Rae]

Raw Power, bar none. Still love it, but the sound is atrocious.

I clicked on this thread with the intention of posting the same thing, but you beat me to it!

~Rae

[BIGPERM]

had raw power on CD and loved it.....when played on my Monsoon system and ripping through the 6-speed trans in my 2000 Trans Am! Bought the vinyl re-issue. Terrible.

Metallica, Ride the lightning, sounds terrible on vinyl.

Rage Against the Machine too was a dissapointment on vinyl.

[MasterCylinder]

ENCORE -- Argent (Live in Concert).
Recording, production, mastering, instrumentation, musicians............total trash.
Even some of the writing sucks.

[Mr MidFi]

Live albums prolly shouldn't count. Also, Raw Power is supposed to sound like trash, I think.

I nominate Springsteen's Nebraska album, which lived in Bruce's coat pocket (without a case) as a rough 4-track demo cassette for months before it was mastered as the "final mix". Technically awful, but it somehow still sounds like it's supposed to.

[Stone]

You mean one where they actually tried to produce it? Yeah, Raw Power sucks, even the remastered-by-Iggy version. But there are myriad hardcore punk albums that are horrible sounding, but many of them just didn't care.

[kexodusc]

Hard to top ...And Justice For All .

[Hyfi]

Live albums prolly shouldn't count.

I have several live albums that sound.....LIVE in the room. But, whatever How about Marvin Gaye Best Of.?

[Smokey]

I nominate Springsteen's Nebraska album, which lived in Bruce's coat pocket (without a case) as a rough 4-track demo cassette for months before it was mastered as the "final mix". Technically awful, but it somehow still sounds like it's supposed to.

Coming off heel of The River album. this album must've been most participated and yet the most disappointed album. And sound quality probably was the main reason.

I have several live albums that sound.....LIVE in the room.

I always think of live albums as something of an afterthought. I mean would you buy live album if studio version did not sound good (except may be Peter Framptons).

[Rae]

You guys are absolutely crazy WRT Nebraska. Probably one of the most successful examples of an intentional aesthetic ever.

~Rae

[3LB]

Hard to top ...And Justice For All .

+1 / Given how great this album is, its a crime. All Metallica albums suck though. They were mastered for guys who drive around in Monte Carlos and Regals with 6x9 triaxials sitting boxless on the rear deck lid. I don't even know why Metallica even employs a bass player. The one album that ever sounded decent, the Black album, is scorned by Hetfield who vows never to make one that sounds that way again. I really hope someone gets their hands on the master tapes for AJFA and remixes that thing one day. I had two 10" subs in an Escort GT with plenty o'power and when I played AJFA they barely moved.

I would have to say worst sounding album in my collection (although like the album) is Big Generator by Yes. First I had it on LP and it sounded so brittle, cold and metalic. And sound was lacking warmth and dynamics

.
somewhat agree with the Yes: Big Generator choice, though if I were picking a Yes album that sounded like crap, it'd be Relayer, which I half-jokingly refer to as Relayered. But BG is a letdown given that 90125 and Drama sounded great. Brittle is a good description. Seems Rabin was successful in chasing away Trevor Horn during the recording process and Rabin was given the wheel.

My own pick would be Thin Lizzy Jailbreak. It sounds like it was recorded in a broom closet. Not that any Thin Lizzy album sounded all that great, but the albums that preceded and followed Jailbreak sound way better. I've owned it on tape, LP and CD and its the same.

I would also like to add just about any ELP album. They're nuts if they thought they didn't need a bass player. Finger nails on a chalkboard. On my top-10 all-time most overrated bands list for sure. At least The Doors made decent sounding albums, even if they are on the same list.

The second Asia album (Alpha) was not only not that great of an album, it was the worst mixing job ever. At least the Big Generator album was brittle. This album (on tape the first time) required me to boost both ends of the spectrum and it still sounded like I was listening on a 30yr old philco radio (I had a Nakamichi TD500 and Boston Acoustic mids and tweets). It was by far the crappiest tape of a new band I had. When I managed to here it on CD years later, I was floored at how it still sounded like an 8-track.

and then there's the early Iron Maiden albums... I'm sensing a theme here. Lots of hard rock and heavy metal albums that sound like the lead guitarist and/or keyboardists had way too much influence on the mixing.

I guess ELP and Asia no longer count for me as I believe I no longer own any of their stuff.

[Mr MidFi]

You guys are absolutely crazy WRT Nebraska. Probably one of the most successful examples of an intentional aesthetic ever.

~Rae

Not sure if you're including me in the "you guys". For the record, what I said was this: "Technically awful, but it somehow still sounds like it's supposed to."

[Smokey]

And then there's the early Iron Maiden albums... I'm sensing a theme here. Lots of hard rock and heavy metal albums that sound like the lead guitarist and/or keyboardists had way too much influence on the mixing.

Of all the albums I've bought over years, generally I find the album have better content and sound if album was produced by an outsider rather than the band itself.

[(O0o*o0O)]

had raw power on CD and loved it.....when played on my Monsoon system and ripping through the 6-speed trans in my 2000 Trans Am! Bought the vinyl re-issue. Terrible.

Metallica, Ride the lightning, sounds terrible on vinyl.

Rage Against the Machine too was a dissapointment on vinyl.

What up BIGPERM!?
First on my mind was the first Rage album. It sounded like they were going with a glass up against a door sound recording. Maybe a couple of Crass albums, GG Allin, and Crash Worship. I jam them anyway.

[bobsticks]

Hard to top ...And Justice For All .

Damn.

Not having been around in a hot minute I thought I could insite some chaos by listing this atrocity but ya done beat me to it Kex...horrible, horrible...drums that sound like tupperware...if I wanted that I'd listen to Vapor Trails...

[-Jar-]

I don't own it anymore but one of the worst sounding records I used to have was the Fall's DRAGNET. Man, painful. Sounded like it was recorded on one of those library cassette recorders. Not in a warm, comfortable low-fi way like Sebadoh or whatnot, just, painful.

[-Jar-]

+and then there's the early Iron Maiden albums... I'm sensing a theme here. Lots of hard rock and heavy metal albums that sound like the lead guitarist and/or keyboardists had way too much influence on the mixing.

How early? I still think PIECE OF MIND and POWERSLAVE are two of the greatest metal recordings of all time, both in terms of performance and engineering. I'll take Martin Birch any day of the week over Mutt Lang and his 1000 foot-wide snare drum and chorused vocals.. (though he fit perfectly with Def Leppard's style)